The Wall Street Journal

The article quotes Green Street Advisors, which specializes in REIT research, saying that the REIT group is trading at about 18 times its adjusted funds from operations, the widely used metric for valuing REITs, above the historical average over the past 20 years of 15 times funds from operations.

The piece states that Scott Crowe, a manager with Resource Real Estate Diversified Income Fund, doesn't expect a repeat of last spring's selloff, but he has been having a hard time finding shares he feels are attractively priced. "As a result, he has been letting cash build up in his portfolio," the article states.

While REITs don't seem excessively bid up on a valuation basis, it's hard to see where the big upside is in the sector at this point. Indeed, if long-term interest rates begin to rise along with an improved economy free of weather disruptions, it's easy to see REITs falling back to earth.

Quartz

The piece is built around a RBC Capital Markets note which argues that a combination of aging among baby boomers and less desire in younger generations to buy motorcycles could present a risk to future sales.

"There are fewer Generation X Americans than boomers, and all younger generations are more financially challenged, so even if they were to consider buying a motorcycle, it might be a cheaper model from one of Harley Davidson's competitors," the article states.

To be sure, the company has an outreach and advertising program, seeking to appeal to younger potential Harley customers. But whether it can counter demographic realities is another question.

How many folks under the age of 35 do you see riding a Hog down your neighborhood streets? That's the issue that the company and shareholders face in the years ahead.

Finally, if you're curious about what big companies are attracting the attention of short sellers, check out a list provided by Bespoke Investment Group.

"In the 3-plus months leading up to June, the primary trend has been one where the most heavily shorted stocks in the S&P 1500 were underperforming the overall market," writes Bespoke. "So far this month, though, we have seen the opposite. As shown in the chart below, the average return of the 33 stocks listed is a gain of 2.21% compared to a gain of 1.68% for the overall S&P 1500."